 Proudly We Hail. New York City, where the American stage begins, here is another transcribed program with a cast of outstanding players and featuring Bryna Raven. Public Service Time has been made available by this station for your Army and your Air Force to bring you this story as Proudly We Hail Our Women in Service. Our story is entitled, Humanity Means People. This is the story of a woman who traveled the world for peace of mind to find that her life could have meaning only when she returned to her own backyard. After this important message, our first act curtain will rise. This story about a courageous American woman of the past prompts me to say a few words about courageous American women of the present who are serving their country as service women in the United States Army and United States Air Force. They have the gratifying knowledge that they are writing new pages in the history book hearing one of the most critical periods in our nation's history. You can join these women by volunteering in the WAC, Women's Army Corps, or in the WAF, Women in the Air Force. Visit your nearest United States Army and United States Air Force recruiting station and enlist now. And now with Bryna Raven and the role of Jane Adams, your Army and your Air Force present the proudly we hail production, Humanity Means People. Truth is manifested to us in many ways. It was sent to me, clear and unmistakable, when I was six years old. But I was 28 before the understanding of that truth came to me. When I was six, I had a dream, a horrible yet prophetic dream. I was alone, utterly alone. Not the way you can be alone in a crowd or alone in an empty house at night, but alone in the world. I wasn't a little girl living in the world of 1866 in that dream. My age seemed indescribable. I was a woman of maybe 30, maybe 50, maybe 100. The setting of the streets through which I was wandering was probably Cedar Creek, Illinois, the only place I'd ever known up until that time. But it seemed large. Not the way I found large cities to be later, but large in the way a huge cavern is endless when you're in the middle of it. Everything was shadowy. Even a voice, the only one in the dream, came from the grayness of the broad streets through which I was wandering. Jane. Jane Adams. You know my name. Who are you? I can scarcely make out your silhouette in this fog. What do you want? I am the only one here. The only one in the world. Except you, Jane. Yes, I know. And I'm frightened. Has everyone in the world disappeared? Not disappeared, Jane. Obscured. But you can bring them back. Tell me how. Tell me what I can do to restore everyone again. You alone are responsible for the fate of the world. You can bring people back to life by one implement alone. A wagon wheel. I don't understand. Explain it to me. One, two. Have you left me to be responsible for the fate of the world without telling me what I can do? What can I do? What can I do? What can I do? Janey. Janey, wake up. You've been having a nightmare. Oh, Pop, it was terrible. There, there. It's all right now. I'll stay with you until you go back to sleep again. I've got my dream, Papa. It was so real. But I didn't understand it. You can tell me all about it in the morning. Now, try to go to sleep and not to dream. That I could bring everybody back to life with a wagon wheel. What does that mean, Papa? I'm not sure, child. I am not sure. You, a child, cannot explain it. Nor can I, a man past the middle of his life. What a wagon wheel, Papa. What should that be that it could save the world? It's a strange symbol indeed. I only wish I could be of some help. Perhaps Jane Adam's dream had its roots in her love for her father. When his child wanted to share his many cares, he took pains to point out other people who needed her help. One Sunday, dressing for church, she put on her new coat and went into her father's study. You look very pretty, but your old coat will be just as warm and won't make other children feel so bad. The other children were those who lived in the back streets of their town. She told her father when he took her through these streets that she would someday live in a big house. But then the thought came... Papa, it wouldn't be right. Why do you say that, child? Because it would be right in the middle of little houses like these. It was at Rockford College that the girl with the strange dream lost her earlier anxiety for the sorrows of the world. She escaped into the beauty of books and forgot the reality around her. It was during her last year at college that her escape from the world was halted temporarily by a shock. Good morning, Ellen. Isn't this wonderful? All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players. I never fully realized those words and what they meant until I just read them again this morning. Jane, I don't really know how you... Ellen, what's the matter? Your pal is dead. I bring news of death, Jane. Papa. Papa is dead. Yes, Jane. He died peacefully in his sleep last night. He wrote you this letter. It was found by his bed this morning. My beloved Janey is late at night and I feel it is late in my life, too. I think this without remorse was a certain sadness that I have not been able to give you all the help your nature has pleaded for. Remember when you were a little child and had your dream about the wagon wheel. At that time I could not help you when you came to me for the answer. The real answer is something I should have learned a long time before this. That each person's destiny, the answer to the eternal questions in each person's heart must be worked out individually. Except for a few bits of real estate and a few scraps of paper which mean that you will be relieved of the burden of financial suffering, I have nothing more to leave you. But I somehow think that if you come to realize the meaning of this inheritance and shape it into your destiny, you will be rich indeed. Your loving Papa. Janey, oh, come in. Hello, Ellen. Oh, I'm so tired. Oh, sit down and tell me. What did the doctor say? Oh, there's nothing wrong with me. Nothing he can hear in his stethoscope or feel in my pulse at any rate. But you're sick, Janey. Didn't he tell you that? Yes, he knows I'm not well, but there's nothing to do with a germ or a disease of the body. It's as if something were haunting me, Ellen. Your father. You're still brooding about him, Janey. No, no, I'm really not, Ellen. Of course, I miss him, and I regret I wasn't with him when he died, but something deeper than that. It's a sense of guilt that's unreasonable. It's a weight I can't shake off. What did the doctor recommend? Oh, usual thing for young girls with enough money. Said I should go somewhere. Europe, perhaps, get a change of scenery. I hope that will mean a change of viewpoint. Well, why not, Janey? Oh, England is beautiful at this time of year. Why don't you go abroad? Ellen, will you go with me? I could find it bearable then. I don't think I could enjoy being by myself in a strange country. Not now, when I feel so all alone, even in my own country. Of course I will, Janey. We'll love it. Oh, we'll see. All the things we've known in books and paintings and photographs. There'll be Westminster Abbey. And Buckingham Palace. And Oxford and Cambridge. And London Bridge. Stop the carriage. Here's the place. Oh, when does the auction start? Whenever there are enough of the rabble assembled. Ellen, I wish I hadn't come. Oh, now, Janey, don't spoil everyone's fun. Oh, I'm dying to see the auction. This is really quite historic now. Every Saturday night for centuries, the farmers bring in their fruit and vegetables. And then the poor gather to get what they can for next door to nothing. But some of those vegetables look spoiled to me. They're not far from it. But they don't even have to last until these people get home. They eat them right here on the streets. Hey, where are you going, Miss Adams? I'm going back to the hotel. If you want to stay and watch these poor people scramble like animals for bits of refuse, you're welcome to do it. My idea of a spectacle is to go to the theatre and not to sit in a carriage and watch and gloat over the evils of the world. You seem better here in Germany. I'm really sorry about that incident in London at the auction. Oh, don't worry ahead about it, Ellen. I didn't feel guilty about my life of uselessness. I suppose I would have seen the colour and the history of it. Look. Oh, look at those women out there on the street. What are they carrying? Those tanks tied to their backs. What are they? Well, I saw them yesterday when the waiters told me about them. It's hot brew they're carrying. They're hands. Look at their hands. Isn't it awful? Their hands are scarred from burns. The hot brew splashes when the women walk. Ellen, something must be done. Let's go to see the... Young woman, what am I to do? Men must have beer. And so these women must have scars. Is that it? When you put it that way, I sound heartless. You are. I am, too. Because there seems to be nothing that can be done about it. I'm sure you're to blame, but so am I, because I'll just run away from this ugliness. Because I've always run away. But, Cheney, what's the remedy? Ellen. Do you remember that social settlement we saw in England? Toine B. Hart? That's right. I'd forgotten the name. Remember Hart was the centre for London's poor? How they went there for enlightenment or amusement? Are you suggesting we go and work at Toine B. Hart? No, Ellen. Charity begins at home. Such a settlement house would be useful in Chicago. Think of all the races in America that have to learn to live together if our democracy is to endure. At our house, we would gather together all sorts of immigrants, do what we could to help them, and give them a life in common. Cheney, that sounds wonderful. We would not only help them, they would help us. We're smothered in comfort as they are oppressed by poverty. My scheme is to throw off some of this stifling comfort for the privilege of being of some use in the world. Reiner-Abern featured in the role of Jane Adams in the proudly-we-hail production Humanity Means People will return in just a moment for the second act. Love and loyalty to one's country have never been the exclusive attributes of men. Women too have given concrete evidence of their devotion and courage. Now, more than ever before, the services of women are urgently needed to undertake thousands of jobs in the armed forces, where a critical manpower shortage threatens the defense effort. More than ever before, the United States Army and United States Air Force needs young women in its expanding forces. So go to your nearest Army and Air Force recruiting station. Have a talk with the recruiting sergeant. He'll help you decide how you can best serve your country. Volunteer for service in the WAC, Women's Army Corps, or in the WAC, Women in the Air Force. Do it today. You are listening to Proudly We Hail. Now with Reiner-Abern as Jane Adams, we present the second act of Humanity Means People for the privilege of being of some use in the world. That's the reason Jane Adams gave herself and her friend Ellen for wanting to found a settlement house in Chicago. She found an old rundown mansion built by a man named Hull. 30 years before, Mr. Hull had chosen the site for its suburban piece. I don't know if it's smart business to say this, Miss Adams, but I can't imagine why you'd want her at my house. In the heart of the immigrant quarter of Chicago, the streets and alleys around are dirty and badly lighted. They're lined with wooden shanties. The neighborhood is filled with garbage and children and every language but English. Mr. Hull, every feature of the neighborhood that you've cited as a disadvantage is a point in its favor for my purposes. Those people need me, and I need your house. Those people won't understand even as well as I do, Miss Adams. I repay your efforts with nothing but suspicion. You mark my words. And I ask you, why they move in here? They can afford to live over on the fancy side of Chicago. What do they want to move into our neighborhood? They will want to sell us something. You watch. Take my warning on this. Don't promise to go to their church. Labor spies is my idea. You went to that Hull house? Why not? They're not half bad. But what did they want you to do? Want? Nothing. Miss Adams, she reads a book to us by a woman called George. George Elliott. Then we talk about things, mostly about the neighborhood. She say we got all to ask for better garbage collection. She thinks so many children die in neighborhood here because streets are full of garbage all the time. Kate, and I walk to the factory with you. Yeah, yeah, well, Harry. It's almost seven. I can't afford to be docked this week. Not with my youngest needing medicine all the time. Emma, you hear about that Miss Adams under Hull house? Yeah, I've heard nothing else for six months. What is it to me that they move into a fancy house and look down their noses at us working women? But that is the news. Miss Adams, she mined our children for us women while we're at work. Then who can afford even a penny in our tenements for someone to stay with the children? It is bad enough my Gisela has so cold all the time, but if I don't have the money to pay her medicine, it would be worse. But it will not cost us a cent. They have what they call a nursery school for the little ones where they get milk every day. Just think every day. It sounds funny to me, but if it is true, what the relief it would be not to have to lock the children up all day and worry about them being caught in a fire or falling out of windows. Emma, tomorrow I send my kids there. They stop by and pick yours up. You know, Emma, I think it was a fine day for Halstead Street when Miss Adams moved in Hall House. Miss Adams, the landlord, he come tonight and says we got to put things out on the sidewalk by tomorrow morning or he's going to put it there himself. Your wife is sick in bed. How can he be so cruel? That's it, Miss Adams. I think he's going to kill her to do this. Here's the money for the rent, but wait a minute before you go, Giovanni. I don't think for one minute that your landlord is entirely to blame. But he's going to put us out on the street. Because you didn't pay your rent. Isn't that right? But the money? Who's got the money with the little I earned? Giovanni, you had enough money to gamble last Saturday night, didn't you? Yes. You pay your rent and take care of your family. Then, Giovanni, I will feel better with myself about helping you. Oh, Jane, I was wondering where you've been. Aren't these beautiful, Ellen? I got this whole armful for just more than a dollar. But Jane, what right have we to spend even one cent for flowers when there are so many other things we need? I couldn't sleep last night. I was thinking about how to win the friendship of various elements in the neighborhood. These are for my Italians. You mean you're buying their friendship with an armful of flowers? And why not? If we can get them to love Hull House, then we can help them. We can't help them if they stay away. And these flowers will help to bring them. Don't you see, Ellen, the Italians around Halstead and Polk Street are sons of the soil by nature. They find the crowded indoor life of the big city, their tenements and their factories very hard. Now, if I can win them over with flowers, then I can give them greater treasures, knowledge and understanding of the life of our great country. Miss Adams, my Anna is arrested. Anna is a good girl. She was going to put back the five dollars she took from Cashbox to buy the dress for Church picnic. But the boss found out before she could raise the money and he want to send her to prison. He will help her. Miss Adams, my Mario has been in a fight. A man was killed. Mario don't mean to do this. And now, what's going to be with us, Miss Adams? Their parents are bewildered, Ellen. They don't understand what has happened to their American children. Well, the young people think of their mothers and fathers as foreigners, Jane. They don't know anything of their fine past, of Italian art or Hebrew lore. The only laborers, common working people, they're ashamed. And the parents are just as bigoted. They refuse to see their children born in this new country and longing to be a part of it, craving for change and for power. A daughter needing a new hat, the son wanting his own money so he can be somebody, they don't understand that. We must build a bridge between the parents and their children. But how, Jane? I think I saw the answer this morning when I was walking through the neighborhood. Something must be done, and if you think you have the answer, let's do it. I came upon an old Italian woman sitting in the sun on the steps of a tenement house, spinning thread with a simple stick spindle. The old woman might have served as a model for one of Michelangelo's fates, but that isn't what stopped me. I thought, now here is the bridge between the old and the new. The children of this old Italian work in factories with complicated machines, but just as they are descended from the old woman, their complicated machines are descended from the simple one she works. This, the children don't realize. If we could make them see the link between the past and the present, between themselves and their parents, they'd know just what to do. To Hall House tomorrow night, we are going to have a demonstration for the young people. We've invited about 20 of you older women to come and show the young boys and girls how the things were done in the old country. They'll be proud of all of you. All of you. Is it true that my mother is the best spinner in America? Well, you saw her work tonight with all the other women far behind, didn't you? You see, my dear, your mother comes from a lovely Italian village with her art of spinning was handed down from generation to generation. You see, it's hard for her to be torn away from her old home and made to give up everything, even her talents to become a stranger in America. You know, Miss Adams, you've done something wonderful and great tonight. You've made me understand my mother for the first time. Miss Adams? Yes. Won't you have a chair, please? Thank you. You don't know me, Miss Adams. I was in the audience last night when you talked about your work here in Hall House. And what did you think? I guess that's obvious, because I'm here. You made me feel uncomfortable. Really? I'm not sorry, you know. I suppose you're not. Your business seems to be to poke at people's consciences. I'm a rich man, and according to your standards, a selfish one, I suppose. What can I do? You said earlier I didn't know you, but I do. You see, I read the society pages as well as the editorials in the paper. And I've done some checking. You own a block of ramshackle houses. They're unfit to live in. You want to know what to do? Well, I'll tell you, if you're sincere, tear down those houses and build a playground. Our children have no outdoor life but in the streets. You have everything. Give these children a little something. Gentlemen of the Senate, I appeal to you. I offered some little girls who came to our first Christmas party at Hull House some candy. And they said, no, thank you. You see, they work those babies 14 hours a day in a candy factory. What attraction does candy have for them? Our efforts for our children are hopeless unless we abolish child labor. And we can do that only by piercing the conscience of the people with the ugly facts of child labor. You say you represent the people. The children can't vote, but you must represent them too. This bill must pass. This bill which will give freedom to the children of Illinois. Settlements were springing up throughout the country, all modeled after that of Jane Adams. Hull House itself now occupied a group of structures covering a city block, and its founder's reputation covered the globe. From thousands of platforms, people heard her speak, and the books she wrote reached millions. Her word carried such weight that political leaders, not only of her own but of other countries, sought her advice and support. To everyone she made audible the cry of children and the weariness of workers. Her two chief crusades were on behalf of children and world peace. In 1931, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In one sentence, the speaker making a presentation summed up what the world thought of Jane Adams. In Jane Adams, there are assembled all the best womanly attributes which shall help us to establish peace in the world. In the year of her death, 1935, Jane Adams received the American Education Award. The speaker at that time said, she has taught tolerance and peaceful community living, first at home and then in the world at large. But perhaps Jane Adams summed it up best herself when she stated her purpose in 1888. I want to throw off comfort for the privilege of being of some use in the world. Thank you, Bryner Rabin, for a stirring portrayal of Jane Adams. Now here is an important message to the young women of America. You have just heard an interesting story about one of America's gallant women of the past. If you're between the ages of 18 and 34, you're invited to join America's gallant women of the present, who now serve in the WAC, Women's Army Corps, and the WAF, Women in the Air Force. Visit your local United States Army and United States Air Force recruiting station. Get all the details today. This has been another program on Proudly We Hail presented transcribed in cooperation with this station by the United States Army and United States Air Force recruiting service. This program featured Bryner Rabin as Jane Adams. This is Kenneth Bagnard speaking and inviting you to tune in the same station next week for another interesting story on Proudly We Hail.